Indicating musical instrument and tune card therefor



1, 1957 A. ISAACSON 2,792,739

INDICATING MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AND TUNE CARD THEREFOR Filed June 11, 19542 Sheets-Sheet 2 I f k 1 I 4 3% 46 '8 HVJO/V /J/-7/9C60A/ I INVENTOR.

United States Patent INDICATING MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AND TUNE CARDTHEREFOR Anson Isaacson, Elgin, Ill. Application June 11, 1954, SerialNo. 436,207 Claims. (Cl. 84-485) My invention relates to an improvedindicating musical instrument of the type wherein the playing of eachnote energizes indicating means, such as a light, to identify the notenext to be played.

In my copending applications, Serial No. 401,543, filed 7 December 31,1953, and entitled Educational Piano,

and Serial No. 526,747, filed April 30, 1954, entitled Tune Card andInstrument Using Same, I disclose and claim improved indicating musicalinstruments and tune cards therefor. The present application disclosesand claims an instrument utilizing a particularly simple tune card, withincident simplicity and low expense. Briefly, the instrument includes aterminal board having a series of parallel conducting bands flush withits face, one for each note to be played in sequence. The secondterminal board is in spaced parallel facing relation with the firstterminal board and has a series of parallel conducting bands flush withits face but oriented transversely to the conducting bands of the firstterminal board. The conducting bands of the second terminal board areequal in number to the number of separate notes and are connected to theindicators, respectively, so that when each conducting band isenergized, the corresponding indicator is likewise energized. Theconducting bands of the first terminal board are energized in sequenceas the successive notes are played by the use of a selector switch whichis advanced one step each time a note is played.

The tune card is removably positioned between the terminal boards. Itconsists of a sheet of insulating material having a series ofconductors, such as rivets, which extend through its thickness andoverlay the adjacent portions of the sheet to form heads. The heads ofeach conductor form contact which seat against a conducting band of oneboard and a conducting band of the other. The conductors on the tunecard are so disposed that, with the card in position, each conductingband of the first terminal board receives one conductor of the card andthat conductor of the card is likewise received by the conducting bandof the secondterminal board corresponding to the note to be played.

It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide animproved indicating musical instrument and tune card therefor.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide animproved indicating musical instrument and tune card therefor in whichthe tune card is of simple construction and merely has conductors whichestablish conducting paths through its thickness.

Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improvedindicating musical instrument and tune card therefor in which virtuallyall of the electrical connections are defined by non-removable parts ofthe instrument so that the repleaceable tune cards are not required toestablish any connections other than through their own thickness.

The novel features which I believe to be characteristic of my inventionare set forth with particularity in the appended claims. My inventionitself, however, both as to 2,792,739 Patented May 21, 1957 itsorganization and method of operation, together with further objects andadvantages thereof will best be understood by reference to the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a schematic circuit diagram of the electrical circuits of aninstrument constructed in accordance with the present invention and, inaddition, showing the operating faces of the terminal boards of theinstrument;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary enlarged view in perspective showing theterminal boards of the instrument with a tune card in place, these partsbeing shown in somewhat exploded relationship to display theirconstruction more completely;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the terminal boards andthe tune card sandwiched therebetween;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary and partially diagrammatic cross-sectionalview of the instrument through the axis 44, Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a front elevational view of a tune card for use in theinstrument;

Figure 6 is a greatly enlarged view through axis 66, Figure 5, showing aconducting rivet received in the tune card; and.

Figures 7 and 8 are views like Figure 6, but showing an alternativemethod of forming a headed conducting member extending through the tunecard.

Referring now to Figure l, the instrument consists of a plurality ofmanually operable members or keys 10 which are actuated to playsuccessive notes. For example, in a toy or instructional pianoconstruction eight such members or keys may be used and may play thenotes of a full octave from the note C to the next higher note C asindicated in Figure 1. Suitable indicators are provided adjacent eachmanually operable member or key 10. These indicators may, for example,be lights as at 12, Figure 1, one light corresponding to each key 10.The lights are placed adjacent to the keys 10 so that when each light islit it identifies a particular key to the person playing the instrument.A construction for this purpose is shown in my above-identifiedcopending application, Serial Number 401,543, filed December 31, 1953.

As shown, the lights 12 are threadedly received by the conducting bar 14which is connected by conductor 16 to the battery 18. The latter isconnected through the conductor 20 to the shaft 22 received on theterminal board 24, as shown in Figures 1 and 3. Shaft 22 carries themovable conducting arm 26 which at its outer end 26a wipes across thefixed contacts 28 to define a selector switch. Each fixed contact 23 isconnected by a conducting band 30 to one of the parallel conductingbands 32 located at the top portion of the terminal board 24. Terminalboard 24 has a planar face which carries the conducting bands 32 asshown.

A second terminal board 34 has a series of parallel conducting bands 36,equal in number to the keys 10 and hence to the number of separate notesto be struck during the playing of a tune. Each conducting band 36 isconnected by a conductor 38 to one of the lamps 12 so that when eachconductor 36 is energized the corresponding lamp 12 is likewiseenergized to indicate the key 10 which is manually to be played.Terminal board 34 has a planar face which carries the conducting bands36 as shown.

The rotatable arm 26 and shaft 22 are mechanically connected by suitablemeans to the keys or members 13 so that each time a key 10 is actuatedthe arm 26 is advanced one step in the clockwise direction as seen inFigure 1. Thus, upon the actuation or playing of each key 10, the arm 26is rotated one step to engage the next contact button 28. At thebeginning of a tune, the arm 26 is manually or otherwise reset to theposition shown in the dotted lines of Figure 1. Thereafter, as eachsuccessive note is played, the conducting bands 32 are energized inorder from the left hand end of the terminal board 24 as seen in. Figure,l to the right hand end of that board, as will be evident upon tracingthe conductors shown.

The mechanism by which the arm 26 is advanced one step each time a noteis played may be any one of many such mechanisms well known to the art.A ratchet mechanism suitable for this purpose is shown in my copendingapplication, Serial Number 401,543,. filed December 31, 1953,above-identified. As shown diagrammatically in Figure 4, the ratchet maybe disposed on the side of terminal board 24 opposite the arm 26.

The conducting bands 30 and 32 on the terminal board 24 and theconducting bands 36 on the terminal board 34 are preferably formed byprinted circuit techniques. in one method of forming such bands, anelectrically conducting material, such as chromium or nichrome, may bedeposited onthe terminal board by evaporating the same through a maskhaving windows of the desired conductor configuration. The desiredthickness of a good conducting material, such as copper may then bebuild up by electroplating. A non-conducting material, such as aplastic, may then be deposited in the spaces between the conductors toform a flush face therewith. Alternatively, the initial deposit of theconductors may be on a sheet of uncured thermosetting plastic, such asbakelite, or a soft plastic material, and the face of the terminal boardbearing the conductors pressed against a flat sheet of stainless steelor similar material to form a smooth face in which the conductors areembedded.

The tune card, shown in plan view in Figure 5, consists of a base 40 ofnon-conducting sheet material. For example, laminated bakelite may beused for this purpose. The sheet is of such width and height as to fitinto the instrument in sandwiched relationship between the terminalboards 24 and 34 as described in detail hereafter. The base 40 has aseries of conducting rivets which extend through its thickness as shownin Figure 6 and have heads 42a protruding from the opposite sides of thebase as shown. As described hereafter, the heads 42a seat against theconducting bands 32 of terminal board 24 and against the conductingbands 36 of the terminal board 34 to establish connections between theseconducting bands to energize the lights 12, Figure l, and thus indicatethe notes to be played.

The physical relationship on the instrument of the terminal boards 24and-34 and the tune card is shown in Figures 2 to 4. As shown in Figure2, the terminal boards 24 and 34 are disposed in parallel spacedrelationship with the conducting bands 32 and 36 facing each other. Thetune card is received between these terminal boards and as shown inFigures 3 and 4, the heads 42a of the conducting rivets extendingthrough the base 40 seat against the faces of the terminal boards 24 and34 carrying the conducting bands 32 and 36. As shown in Figure 4, theinstrument has a stop member 44 against which the base .0 seats to holdthe same with itsbottom edge 40a at a fixed positionin relation to theterminal boards 24 and 34. This assures that each conducting rivet 42 isin the desired registered relation to the terminal board 34. Similarguides 47 located on the sides of the card-receiving space assurelateral registration of the tune card with the conducting bands of theterminal board 24. The position of the bottom edge 2i) is shown by thedotted line 140a, Figure l, which, as will be noted,-

extends across the bottom edge of the parallel conducting band 32. v a

In order to urge the'terminal boards 24 and 34 against the heads 42a ofthe rivets 42, a suitable resilient means is provided. In the form ofthe instrument shown in Figures 3 and 4, this is accomplished by theresilient rubber sheet 46 which is seated between the terminal board 34and the rigidly supported backing member 48.

This resilient member permits the terminal board 34 to give and thusaccommodate the headed conducting members 42 while maintaining a goodelectrical contact therewith. The terminal boards 24 and 34, the tunecard, the sheet 46, and the backing member 48, are held in sandwichedrelation by the channel shaped side guides 47, Figure 3, as shown.

A tab 40b is provided on the top of the tune card to facilitate itsinsertion in and removal from the instrument.

in Figures 7 and 8 there is shown an alternative way of defining headedconducting members extending through the base 43 of the tune card. Here,the tune card is first :punched With holes 1421) at the points whereinconduction is to be established. Then a conducting member 42 with heads142a at its opposite ends is formed by pouring a molten conductingmaterial, such as lead solder, and thereafter shaping the heads 142a tothe desired shape by a suitable pressing operation.

The conducting members 42 are disposed in the base 41 of the tune cardin accordance with the tune desired to be indicated. The positions forthe successive notes are indicated by the corresponding letters on theleft hand side of the tune card as shown in Figure 5. These correspondto the positions of the conducting bands 36 on the terminal board 34.Similarly, the notes which are played in succession are indicated by thenumbers at the bottom margin of the card as shown in Figure 5. Thesepositions correspond to the positions of the bands 32 of the terminalboard 24, Figure l, which are energized in sequence as the arm 26 movesstep by step in accordance with the operation of the keys. Thus, inorder to indicate the playing of a particular tune, it is only necessaryto position the conducting members 42 in accordance with the sequence ofnotes to be played. Thus, as shown in Figure '5, the tune Mary Had aLittle Lamb may be indicated by positioning the conducting members toplay the notes ED C D E, in sequence followed by the other notes of thistune.

The conductors 42 are so positioned on the tune card that at least oneof the conducting bands 36 is energized for each position of the arm 26.Thus one note is indicated to be played each time a successive note isplayed. If desired, however, harmony may be indicated by causing two ormore of the indicators 12 to be energized. For purpose of illustration,such harmony is shown for the number 5, 6, ad 7 positions of the tunecard as shown in Figure 5. It will be evident, of course, that a greateror smaller number of notes may be indicated with harmony, all dependingupon the capacity of the instrument and the desires of the player.

While I have shown and described particular embodiments of the presentinvention, it will of course be understood that various modificationsand alternative constructions may be made without departing from thetrue spirit and scope thereof. I therefore intend by the appended claimsto cover all modifications and alternative constructions falling withintheir true spirit and scope.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. In combination, a musical instrument having manual means to play aseries of notes individually; a terminal board having a planar face witha series of spaced parallel conducting bands flush with the face, oneband corresponding to each of the notes; a terminal board in spacedrelationship to the first terminal board and having a planar face facingthe planar face of the first mentioned terminal board, the planar faceof the last mentioned terminal board having a series of flush parallelconducting bands oriented transversely to the bands of the firstmentioned terminal board; means operable to energize the bands of saidlast mentioned terminal board in sequence as the successive notes areplayed; means operable to energize the electrical indicatorsrespectively as the corresponding conducting bands of the firstmentioned terminal board are energized; and a tune card removablydisposed between the terminal boards and having conducting means inbridging relation to the bands of the respective terminal boards toconnect each of the bands of the last mentioned terminal board to a bandof the first mentioned terminal board.

2. In a musical instrument of the type having manual means operable toplay a series of notes individually and in which an electrical indicatoridentifying the note next to be played is energized upon playing eachnote, the improvement comprising: means defining a series of spacedparallel coplanar conductors, one corresponding to each note; meansdefining a series of spaced parallel coplanar conductors in spacedparallel relation with the plane of the first mentioned conductors, thelast mentioned conductors being oriented transversely to the firstmentioned conductors; a tune card removably disposed between the firstmeans and the second means and having conducting means seated againstthe conductors to establish an electrical connection between each ofsaid last mentioned conductors and one of said first mentionedconductors; means to energize the last mentioned conductors in sequenceas the successive notes are played; and means to energize the indicatorsrespectively as the first mentioned conductors are energized.

3. A tune card for use in a musical instrument of the type having manualmeans to play a series of notes individually, electrical indicators foreach of the notes respectively, and a pair of facing parallel spacedterminal boards each having an array of parallel conductors, theconductors of one board being transverse to the conductors of the otherboard, means to energize the conductors of one board as successive notesare played, and means to energize an electrical indicator as each of theconductors of the other board are energized; the tune card consisting ofa sheet of insulating material having a series of conductors penetratingits thickness and forming electrical contacts at directly opposed sidesof the sheet and electrically insulated from each other, the conductorsbeing located to seat against the conductors of the one board,respectively, and to seat against the conductors of the other board inaccordance with the sequence of notes to be played.

4. In combination, a musical instrument having manual means to play aseries of notes individually; electrical indicators for each of saidnotes, respectively; a terminal board having a series of spaced parallelconducting bands, one corresponding to each of said notes; a terminalboard in spaced facing relation to the first terminal board and having aseries of spaced parallel conducting bands oriented transversely to thebands of the first mentioned terminal board; means operable to energizethe boards of said last mentioned terminal board in sequence as thesuccessive notes are played; means operable to energize the electricalindicators, respectively, as the corresponding conducting bands of thefirst mentioned terminal board are energized; and a tune card removablydisposed between the terminal boards and having conducting means inbridging relation to the bands to the respective terminal boards toconnect each of the bands of the last mentioned terminal board to a bandof the first mentioned terminal board.

5. In combination, a musical instrument having manua1 means to play aseries of notes individually; electrical indicators for each of saidnotes, respectively; a terminal board having a series of spaced parallelconducting bands, one corresponding to each of said notes; a terminalboard in spaced facing relationship to the first terminal board andhaving a series of spaced parallel conducting bands orientedtransversely to the bands of the first mentioned terminal board; meansoperable to energize the bands of said last mentioned terminal board insequence as the successive notes are played; means operable to energizethe electrical indicators, respectively, as the corresponding conductingbands of the first mentioned terminal board are energized; a tune cardremovably disposed between the terminal boards and having conductingmeans in bridging relation to the bands of the respective terminalboards, the conducting means comprising headed conducting membersextending through the tune card to seat against the bands of thetermnial boards and establish a conducting path between each conductingband of the last mentioned terminal board and a conducting band of thefirst mentioned terminal board.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,607,226 Wood Nov. 16, 1926 1,642,810 Grimaldi Sept. 20, 1927 2,353,001Armbruster July 4, 1944 2,353,061 Oldenbloom July 4, 1944 2,448,759Armbruster Sept. 7, 1948 2,502,960 Johnson Apr. 4, 1950

